President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, to hand off negotiations with the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Mr. Buhari, who gave the directive during a briefing by the heads of the various concerned ministries, departments, and agencies of government on Tuesday in Abuja, also okayed the suggestion by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to take over the negotiations.

Mr. Adamu was said to have complained to the gathering about the reason behind his prolonged silence on the matter, saying his labor and employment counterpart had since 2016 argued: “that only the labor ministry has the mandate to negotiate with striking workers unions in Nigeria.”

ASUU has also blamed Mr. Ngige for allegedly complicating the crisis and making resolution difficult.

Ngige has been negotiating since five months ago without headway.